Coaching: The Key to Making Leadership Development Stick

Coaching: The Key to Making Leadership Development Stick

Whether it be logging on to LinkedIn Learning, building classroom-style leadership development programs, or relying on internal mentor relationships, organizations across the globe are trying to find the best way to help their mid-level leaders adapt to the new and ever-changing work environment. However, what they’re discovering is that only 10% of the classroom style and cohort learning they’re investing in actually has a long-term impact on their leaders’ development*. But why?

Simply put, because every leader is different. They have their own needs, problems, and development opportunities, and there is no such thing as one-size-fits-all leadership development content. When it comes to developing the core competencies of leadership, implementing personalized coaching gives mid-level leaders the ability to thrive in their roles and better serve their teams and the organization.

In comparison to classroom-style learning, personalized coaching has a greater impact on a leader’s growth for 3 key reasons:

1. Context is key

Since coaching is one-on-one, it allows coaches to work with leaders on a more personal level and dive deeper into the specific situations that they’re working through. They get to focus their development around their personal context rather than working broadly through topics or situations that might not be relevant.

2. Practice makes perfect

Coaches and leaders come up with action items between their engagements to put what they’re learning into practice and reflect on the outcomes. Leaders can actively experiment with their teams and figure out what works best for their leadership style.

3. Mindset comes first

Coaching is centered around reflection, mindset shifts, and emotional domains that influence behavior. Leaders learn why they do things and how their mindsets, choices, and habits affect the people around them, leading to more long-term behavioral changes.

Great leadership coaching used to be only available to the highest-level or highest-potential leaders. With technology, however, it has become accessible for the entire organization. Up-level your leadership development programs with scalable coaching and your organization can create leaders in every seat.

*Reference Lombardo and Eichinger’s 70/20/10 model

About The Author(s)

Catherine Germinario

Director, Client Acquisition
Over the past few years, Catherine gained experience ranging from human resources and program administration to the heart of any business, sales, and marketing. She quickly moved into multiple training and management roles, creating training material, building processes, and spearheading women-in-sales focus groups. At Optify, she focuses her efforts on business development and marketing campaigns as a thought leader to continue to expand outreach. Catherine holds a Master of Arts in Industrial and Organizational Psychology from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. She earned her B.A. in Psychology from Christopher Newport University with minors in Leadership and Communications. Catherine was also an avid member of the President’s Leadership Program and recipient of the Joann S. Squires Award for Industrial and Organizational Psychology in 2018.